Filling systems on motor vehicles, with filling openings for different storage tanks which are arranged below a common tank closure cover, are known in principle in the prior art, for example from EP 1 449 702 A2, WO 2006/035013 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,892 A or from US 2010/0012205 A1.
The filling system known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,892 A for example, in a variant shown in FIG. 3 of the publication, comprises a single filler neck with a single filling opening and two filling channels, each of which leads to a separate fuel container.
Recently, in particular for diesel cars, exhaust gas denitrification systems have become established, in particular systems which work on the principle of selective catalytic exhaust gas reduction by means of a watery urea solution which is injected into the exhaust line of the vehicle. For this, it is necessary to store the urea solution in the motor vehicle. The tanks for receiving urea solution are dimensioned and arranged such that they can be filled in the workshop from drums when the vehicle is serviced at normal service intervals. Increasingly, there is a need for the urea tank to be refillable by the vehicle keeper, which leads to the necessity for providing a filler neck for a watery additive for exhaust gas denitrification which is accessible from the outside of the vehicle.
It is therefore known in principle to provide, as well as a filler neck for fuel, at least one further filler neck for filling a secondary fluid container, such as for example an additive container, below the tank closure cover of the motor vehicle.
The technical problem of such a common arrangement of a plurality of filler necks below a single tank closure cover is the space available for installation inside the body of the motor vehicle. Firstly, the space must be sufficient for the two systems to be arranged below a single tank closure cover, secondly the systems must be arranged such that any closure caps provided on the filling openings can still be operated, in the sense of fitted and removed via a screw thread. This necessarily leads to the tank closure cover assuming certain dimensions which are not aesthetically pleasing. For small vehicles in particular, relatively large tank closure covers are stylistically displeasing.
To solve this problem, US 2010/0012205 A1 proposes a filling system which comprises a first and a second filling opening inserted in a panel which can be displaced longitudinally. The panel is displaceable inside the body of the vehicle between a first configuration and a second configuration, wherein in the first configuration a first filling opening is arranged aligned with a fixed opening in the body of the motor vehicle, and wherein in the second configuration the second filling opening is arranged aligned with this opening. This solution requires an electric adjustment mechanism and in addition takes up a relatively large installation space inside the body of the motor vehicle. Undoubtedly, one advantage of this arrangement is that the opening in the body of the motor vehicle can be kept relatively small, and a correspondingly small tank closure cover is required.